summer is flying by!

Before we know it, it'll be time to start school again! I've been trying to cherish our time off together because in one short month BOTH girls will be gone all day long (Olivia is going to all day kindergarten)! For the first time in almost nine years, I won't have anyone under foot during the day. I'm sure I'll figure out what to do with myself, but right now it seems like a strange prospect. Maybe, just maybe, I'll finally catch up--and keep up--on scrapbooking?? Or get back to more frequent blog posts?? Time will tell.


The girls and I have been keeping busy with day camps (VBS/church & Girl Scouts) and playing in the backyard pool. In fact, I started this post poolside as they swam and played with neighbor friends. Earlier today, they performed as little chefs in "God's Kitchen," as the culmination of their Kids' Choir Camp (pictures to come). They both really enjoyed their week learning bible verses, learning new songs, and practicing their speaking parts. I was so happy to see them enjoy doing the performance with no mention of stage fright :) Emily even said her own line into the microphone which is a HUGE step for someone who used to be deathly afraid of going on stage! I still have to upload the pix and video clips, but hopefully I'll have something to post here.

As I mentioned posting, it occurred to me that I never did post anything from our June trip (okay, just added some below), and, in a week we'll be packing up for another trip--a week long family vacation in Branson, Mo. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that we'll enjoy it even if we're not country music lovers! Actually, it looks like there are plenty of non-country-music things to see and do so we should have a good time. We've already got our tickets to see Chinese Acrobats :)

The scrapbook pages below are from our trip to Kentucky where we went to help to move my sister, Angie, from Massachusetts. She and her husband both accepted faculty positions at Murray State University, so they and their three children made the cross country move to Murray, KY. It seems like a nice little town and I think they'll really enjoy it once everyone gets connected with friends. They closed on their new house right after our annual family reunion in northern IN, so five cars of us caravaned down to KY to check out their new digs and help them unpack. The kids enjoyed having ANOTHER family reunion there!

On the way home from KY, we decided to stop at our college towns and show the girls a little of what college can look like. We hadn't had any real reason to go back, so it'd been 17 years since we were last there and unfortunately my campus was buttoned up for July 4th. We showed the girls around both campuses and had a little more luck with his having more activity.